Improving the identification, handling and storage of “difficult” seeds ...

amount of moisture in that sample. Safe levels for storage should be between 3% oily seed and 7%
other crops - above this samples are subjected to further drying.
Storage containers
Samples are placed in aluminum foil packets, sealed hermetically and placed in waxed paper boxes
then placed in freezers for storage.
Viability monitoring (question 5.5)
Germination tests are used to determine the proportion of viable seed in an accession. Viability
monitoring is a pre-requisite. The following methods are used:
▪ Top of paper in a Petri dish
▪ Sand – for large seed, e.g. maize
▪ Agar
Tests are placed under lights or room temperature conditions. The tests run for the recommended
number of days, i.e. 6-10 days. Seed counts are taken and results recorded. A sample that qualifies
for storage should have 70-85% viability.
Species that demonstrate low levels of viability
Cleome gynandra Amaranthus sp. Solanum villosum
Garcinia buchananii
Eriosema shrense
As the Genebank is at its initial stages of storage, we have not yet tested any stored samples, but
will share experiences from other genebanks.
Constraints (question 5.10)
▪ Equipment and infrastrustructural development
▪ Power fluctuations
▪ Destruction and theft of some in-situ collections in the garden(e.g. Mondia sp.) and bad
harvesting techniques of medicinal plants
▪ Automatic change-over power system
▪ Air lock laboratory to ensure that attained moisture content levels are not interfered with.
▪ More training on seed handling and seed physiology
▪ Plant descriptors
▪ Insufficient knowledge in seed physiology - as a new facility we are still learning all the
genebank activities hence the need for more training especially in seed physiology and handling
Possible solutions to the constraints
▪ More specialized training especially in seed physiology and handling.
▪ Provide airlock laboratory.